At least 180 members of Islamic State (EI) died Wednesday in northern Iraq in air strikes led by the United States, who came to the aid of Kurdish troops to repel a major offensive of the jihadist group coalition, reported the Pentagon.
More than 300 fighters heavily armed EI launched at least three separate but coordinated attacks against Kurdish positions north of Mosul, controlled by the jihadist group Iraqi city attacks.
"it was the hardest blow that the EI struck this summer, and the 'peshmerga' (Kurdish fighters) defeated "today said Colonel Steve Warren, a spokesman for the US mission against IS in Iraq, in a televised news conference from Baghdad.
in a statement, Brigadier General Mark Odom, top US military commander in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil, said that "about 180" jihadist attackers as a result of the "bombing" of aircraft uS-led coalition were killed.
"These are the people that we can say we kill us. And I know that 'peshmerga' killed a significant number of them too, "Odom said, adding that the total casualties of extremists could reach" 300 to 500 "quoted the news agency EFE.
The bombing coalition took place for about seventeen hours and, among others, intervened warplanes United States, France, United Kingdom and Canada, finalized the brigadier general.
EI took control of Mosul in June 2014 and soon after announced the declaration of an Islamic caliphate in large areas it controls in Iraq and neighboring Syria.
attacks the coalition were made after US President Barack Obama warned on Monday the leaders of EI that "you can not hide" because they are the main target of the military campaign against the jihadist group.
in a statement from the Pentagon, Obama stressed that the strategy "continues to advance" with "a great sense of urgency," although admitted that the fight against the jihadists will remain "difficult".
According to Obama, the international coalition of 65 countries led by the United States and formed last year to combat EI is hitting "stronger than ever" jihadists.
Following the attacks of 13 November in Paris, which caused at least 130 deaths, and the slaughter of Dec. 2 in San Bernardino (California) perpetrated by followers assumptions of EI, which left 14 dead, Obama stood firm in defending his strategy against the jihadists.
while today, militant Iraqi Kurds repelled today a new attack fighters EI about 80km from the city of Mosul, reported Kurdish sources.
According to the Kurdish commander Rashad Kalali, in clashes in the region of Makhmour, which lasted several hours, killing at least 13 jihadists and a Kurdish fighter, while nine militants were wounded.
the region Makhmour, located 80 kilometers southeast of Mosul , suffered in recent weeks several attacks by the forces of EI, which were contained by Kurdish forces backed by aircraft of the international coalition led by United States.
More than three million Iraqis were displaced by the conflict since the mid June 2014 when the EI launched a large-scale offensive in the north and west of the country that allowed him to capture Mosul, the second largest city of Iraq and main stronghold of the Islamist group in the country.
Source Telam